


Freaktown.

by steeleye



Category: Boomtown, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M, action adventure, crossover fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 11:37:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7756285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steeleye/pseuds/steeleye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A 'Military Faith' prequel, first of three stories that explains how Faith joined the US Army and also covers some of her early military career. After waking from her coma Faith leaves Sunnydale and finds herself adrift in LA with no past and no future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Freaktown.

By Steeleye.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or ‘Boomtown’ I write these stories for fun not profit.

 **Crossover:** The TV show ‘Boomtown’.

 **Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar:** Written in glorious UK-English (the original and best) which is different to US-English.

 **Timeline:** Part of the 'Military Faith' series.

 **Words:** Three Chapters of 3500+ words.

 **Warnings:** None.

 **Summary:** A 'Military Faith' prequel, first of three stories that explains how Faith joined the US Army and also covers some of her early military career. After waking from her coma Faith leaves Sunnydale and finds herself adrift in LA with no past and no future.

0=0=0=0

_I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,_  
I can see all obstacles in my way  
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind  
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)  
Sun-Shiny day. 

‘I Can See Clearly Now’, by Johnny Nash.

0=0=0=0

**Los Angeles, April 2000.**

Walking out onto the bridge, Faith ignored the early morning traffic. Leaning her elbows on the balustrade, she sipped her first coffee of the day and stared down at the river below.

“Another freaking, sunny, LA day,” she told herself quietly.

Sensing someone walk up and stand next to her, she glanced up and nodded a greeting to the old, black guy who was leaning against the concrete beside her.

“Hi Pop,” Faith took another slow sip of her coffee before going back to her contemplation of the river below.

“Not quite the Ganges is it?” Pop asked, “Not really a river anymore.”

Faith shrugged but otherwise kept her own counsel.

“Used to flood like a son-of-a-bitch back when I was a boy,” Pop looked down at the water that covered about half of the concrete river bed below them, he sighed sadly as he remembered his youth, “They paved it all over back in the fifties.”

Looking at the sorry excuse for a river below her, Faith wondered where Pop was going with this; Pop was one of her few friends in LA and she wasn’t about to alienate him by snapping at him to get to the point. Maybe, she shrugged once more, maybe he didn’t have a point; perhaps he was just making conversation because he knew they both needed the company.

“London’s got the Thames,” Pop continued, “Paris has got the Seine, Vienna’s got the Blue Danube,” he gave a quiet chuckle, “LA’s got a concrete drainage ditch…it’s all we got, it’ll have to do.”

“Yeah,” Faith agreed quietly, “that’s my life,” Faith sipped her coffee and smiled ruefully, “full o’ crap an’ goin’ nowhere.”

“What’re you talkin’ about girl?” Pop turned to look at Faith over the tops of his glasses.

“Don’t know Pop,” Faith drained her coffee cup before dropping it over the side of the bridge to watch it drift lazily through the air towards the water; she saw it bob in the water as it was carried away by the current, it was a little like her really, lost in the current.

“You’re too good for this place, Faith,” Pop went back to watching the river, “LA’s no place for a pretty girl like you.”

Pop was right of course, as each day had passed, Faith had grown to dislike LA just a little bit more. There was something about the city that made her brain itch and then there were the people, if she died right that minute only about three people in the entire world would notice; Pop, Sam, the clerk at the motel who took her weekly rent and maybe Fearless.

“Hey,” Faith forced a smile and looked at the old man, “goin’ for a job today.”

“Waitressing?” Pop asked.

“Yeah,” Faith admitted with a shrug and a resigned look.

With no work history, in fact no history at all before about three months ago, the best Faith could hope for was a waitressing job and she needed a job, soon. The money the two detectives had given her in Sunnydale was running low, if she was careful she could make it last another two, maybe three weeks and then? Well then her options would have narrowed to turning tricks or robbing people, neither career choice appealed, but what else could she do?

That was the whole point really, what could she do? The truth was she had no idea. Three months ago she’d woken up lying in a bed in a basement room at Sunnydale General Hospital; she’d no idea who she was, apart from her name, and no idea of how and why she’d come to be in a coma for the last eight months. Of course when she woke up all the doctors at the hospital had been amazed, so amazed, in fact, they’d called all their doctor friends to come and see the freak who’d woken up from the dead. They’d come on over in their droves to poke and prod her as they tried to work out why she’d woken up and why she was in such good physical condition after basically lying on her back for eight months.

From listening to all the medical jargon going on around and over her head, Faith had worked out why the doctors were so surprised at her recovery. It was because the longer you stayed in a coma the less likely you were to wake up. Plus there’d been the thing about her being able to walk almost from the moment she’d woken up. That’s how the hospital had discovered she’d woken up, a janitor had found her wandering the corridors of the basement dressed only in a hospital gown and with tubes and wires still hanging from her body.

From what she’d later found out, she’d been brought into hospital after receiving a serious knife wound to her abdomen, she’d also suffered a pretty major fall just after being stabbed. As soon as she’d been taken to hospital it was discovered she worked for the Mayor of Sunnydale although in what capacity Faith didn’t know. From some of the looks a few of the nurses gave her, they thought she’d worked in a ‘flat on her back with her legs wide open’ capacity.

But being the Mayor’s squeeze (if that was what she’d really been) had its benefits. It appeared the Mayor really did like her and she received the best of care…until the Mayor died in a gas explosion while he was giving a speech at the local High School graduation, and the medical insurance ran out. Then it was down into the basement and basic care, Faith suspected she was supposed to have quietly died down there, but she’d stubbornly clung to life and even got better. Now she was standing on a bridge with cars whizzing by behind her, a stinking drainage ditch flowing under her and trying to get excited about a waitress job.

“You look out for y’self, Faith,” Pop pushed himself away from the balustrade, “like I say you’re a pretty girl and there’s some guys out there who might try and take advantage of that fact.”

“There are?” Faith replied with wide-eyed innocence, she grinned and placed her hand on Pop’s arm reassuringly, “Don’t worry Pop I’m a big girl, I can look after myself.”

“It’s bein’ a ‘big girl’ that makes me worry about you,” Pop explained before shaking his head in sorrow, “If only I was thirty years younger,” Pop laughed, “Hell! If only I was ten years younger I’d look out for you.”

“Hey,” Faith smiled, “I keep tellin’ ya I don’t need anyone to look out for me…”

“I know, I know,” Pop nodded his head and grinned, “but, it’d be fun trying!”

“Yeah,” Faith wondered what it would be like to have someone to look out for her; although she couldn’t be sure, she had a feeling she’d always looked out for herself. But maybe one day, “Look, Pop, I’ve gotta go…don’t wanna be late for my job interview.”

“Good luck, Faith,” Pop called as he watched Faith walk away, “mind you come back and tell me how it went.”

“Will do,” Faith called as she waved over her shoulder and walked off leaving Pop standing alone on the bridge.

“Damn fine piece of ass,” Pop muttered to himself as he watched Faith’s rear getting further and further out of reach, “The hell with being ten years younger,” he laughed, “five would do!” Smiling to himself, Pop shook his head, whatever his fantasies about Faith she was out of reach both literally and figuratively, he sighed sadly, “Luck Faith.”

0=0=0=0

So, Faith asked herself as she walked the streets of this rundown part of LA, if she hated it here, why had she come here and why was she still here? The second question was easy, she didn’t know where else to go. She’d been told she had a Boston accent, but like everything else, she had no memory of ever living in Boston. So, the chances were if she went there she’d be no better off than she was now only the weather wouldn’t be as good. Something told her that being poor wasn’t as bad in a warm place than it was in a cold place.

Why had she come here? That was easy too; because the two cops who’d turned up in her hospital room had bought her a bus ticket to LA when they’d told her to leave Sunnydale. Although neither of the cops had said anything and she of course had no memory of ever meeting them, Faith was pretty sure they’d worked for the mayor and were carrying out some instructions he’d left behind concerning her. They’d given her about five thousand dollars, all in small bills. An envelope with all her personal documentation in and a small backpack containing a couple of changes of clothes. They’d sneaked her out of the hospital and driven her down to the bus station. Here one of the cops had bought her a ticket and they’d both been there to make sure she got on the bus and stayed on it until it was on its way. As she’d stepped on the bus she remembered one of the cops wishing her good luck. The other had warned her, in a nice but firm way, never to come back to Sunnydale; it was dangerous here for her although he never explained why. 

Sitting in her seat, Faith had given the two cops a hesitant wave as the bus pulled out, the one who’d wished her luck had waved back. That small gesture often made her wonder what it was like to have someone care about her. Again, although she had no real evidence to support her feelings, she thought that the mayor had cared about her, more than if she’d just been his ‘mistress’. When she thought about him it was more like he was her father, or at least what she thought a father would be like if she could remember ever having one.

0=0=0=0

Looking up at the front of the club, Faith read the neon signs, switched off and pathetic looking in the bright but hazy, LA sunshine. *GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS!* the big one read, *None Stop Pole Dancing!* read another. Another, almost as big as the first, simply read, *STRIPPERS!*.

“Oh crap,” Faith sighed; it looked like this wasn’t a normal waitressing job.

Not knowing why she felt so disappointed, Faith had seen any number of joints like this before, she’d even tried to get jobs in a few of them. But, they’d always wanted her to do stuff that she’d not felt comfortable with.

“Whatever,” Faith shrugged and marched on in through the open door. As soon as she got in off the street the light level dropped dramatically, although this didn’t bother her too much.

Her eyesight was one of the things she’d noticed that was different about her from other people. Unlike most people she could see pretty well in the dark; okay the colours were all washed out and some of the definition wasn’t up to daylight standards (it was a little like looking at a photo that was slightly out of focus). But, it did mean that if she needed to get up and pee in the middle of the night she didn’t have to switch on the lights.

Walking further into the club, Faith could smell the stale sweat, tobacco, alcohol and despair. Even at this early hour of the morning the joint was open. An unenthusiastic stripper danced on a stage illuminated by a red spotlight, while a couple of topless waitresses walked slowly between the tables taking drinks to the half dozen guys in the audience.

“What the…” Faith stared after one of the waitresses; not only was she topless but she also appeared to be wearing some kind of monster make up.

Okay, Faith told herself, topless waitressing, she could do; if there was nothing else. After all she had nothing to be ashamed of, she had a rack a lot of women would kill for and she wasn’t shy about showing it off. But dressing up as some sort of monster or demon-woman, well that went just a little too weird for her. Thinking she’d made a big mistake coming to the club, she turned and started to retrace her steps towards the door.

“Hey honey,” a male voice called from behind her, “can I help you?”

“Nah,” Faith turned and found herself facing a tall, well dressed Italian looking guy in his mid-thirties, “I was looking for a job but then…” Faith gestured to the waitresses, “…then I saw ya had to dress up and…”

“Oh!” the tall guy laughed pleasantly, “Not all our waitresses ‘dress-up’ as you call it. I’m Nick, by the way, I own this joint, you say you’re looking for a job?” Faith nodded, “Come and have a drink and we’ll see what I can offer you.”

“Okay,” Faith moved towards a table and sat down; sure ‘Nick’ was checking her out, she’d grown to expect that, men (and a few women) were always telling her she was pretty or ‘hot’.

“So you want a job waitressing?” Nick asked as he signalled to the barkeep to bring them some drinks.

“Yeah,” Faith shrugged non-committally, “but…” she didn’t know how to say it without upsetting the guy, after all he’d been pleasant enough to her and he didn’t look too sleazy, “…but look, I don’t mind the topless thing but…” she gestured to the girl with the tail and little horns who’d brought the drinks over, “…the other stuff's y’know too weird for me.”

As the waitress placed Faith’s drink in front of her, she smiled exposing sharp white teeth that looked just a little too long to be real and for a moment Faith could have sworn that the girl’s eyes had glowed red.

“Like I said,” Nick sipped his drink as he looked at Faith intently, “not all our girls ‘dress up’.”

For a second Faith wondered why Nick kept sounding like he was putting inverted comas around ‘dress up’.

“Yeah I get that now,” Faith drank from her glass; the liquid it contained was cool, tasted of fruit and as far as she could tell didn’t contain any alcohol.

“The Hellfire Club,” Nick explained, “is a kinda themed place…”

“Themed?” Faith queried, yeah she supposed it was if your idea of a theme was hell, it was just about then that she noticed most of everything in the place was red of one shade or another.

“Yeah,” Nick smiled exposing white, perfect looking teeth, “we get a lot of customers from TV and movie studios, y’know the guys who do the special effects on monster shows?”

“Oh yeah,” Faith nodded her head, put like that it didn’t sound so weird, “I get it.”

“Can you dance?” Nick asked out of the blue.

“Dance?” Faith frowned for a second, “Yeah sure I can dance.”

Again this was something that came naturally to her, she always got an audience if she went out on the dance floor at a club.

“Well,” Nick smiled disarmingly, “I was thinking you’d be wasted as a waitress…how’d you like to work as one of our dancers? I’m always on the look out for new talent.”

“Hey, look man,” Faith almost got up and walked out there and then, but the memory of her stash of money getting smaller and smaller held her in place, “I don’t know…”

“Sure, look,” Nick looked at her sympathetically, “I know what you’re thinking and I don’t blame you. If I were you I wouldn’t just take my clothes off for any guy who offered me a job as a stripper,” Nick sipped his drink and sat back in his chair, “Don’t decide now, talk to some of the girls if you like, they’ll tell you I’m on the up and up.”

“I don’t think…” Faith so wanted to get up and walk out but the thought of being penniless held her in place once more.

“We pay well,” Nick pointed out enticingly, “and you don’t have to share your tips with anyone, you could easily earn $1500 to $2000 a week.”

Two thousand dollars a week did sound tempting and Faith had to stop herself from saying yes there and then.

“Look, man,” with a great effort of will Faith stood up, “I gotta go, I’ll think about it an' call ya, okay?”

Forcing herself to turn and put one foot in front of the other, Faith made a bee-line for the door and the smoggy, LA sunshine.

0=0=0=0

**Outside The Hellfire Club.**

Standing on the sidewalk outside the strip club in the warm LA sunshine, Faith wondered what she was going to do for the rest of the day. Turning to her right she started to walk, glancing at her watch she saw that it was just after eleven. This was one of her problems, how to fill her day, she could stay in bed all day but that wasn’t really her. She’d tried staying in bed all day once or twice but she just got restless and soon found herself walking the streets again. 

Letting her feet take her where they would, Faith found herself at the local mall. Standing at the entrance she wondered why she was here. It wasn’t like she had any money to buy stuff and she didn’t appear to enjoy window shopping. With a sigh she headed towards the food court, perhaps Pop would be there, at least then she’d have someone to talk to.

0=0=0=0

It was now late evening and Faith was just thinking about going for a beer after seeing a movie. There was a multiplex in the mall so she’d not even had to leave the building. The movie had been some low budget monster flick that had been unintentionally funny rather than scary. Walking out of the mall back onto the street, Faith smiled as she remembered the movie, she seemed to like that type of show. It was one of the odd things about her memory loss, while she could remember films she’d seen and songs she liked, but she still couldn’t remember her Mom and Dad, assuming she’d had any parents.

Looking up from these rather dark thoughts, Faith found herself in a dimly lit alley. How the hell had she wandered down here? Stopping she turned to look around and tried to regain her bearings. Instead of seeing the lights of a main road, she saw nothing but the back of an old warehouse.

“What the fuck?” Faith asked; she recognised nothing.

Although the alley was ill-lit this didn’t bother her so much because she could see perfectly well in the dark. She could also smell and hear perfectly well too, which just at the moment she wasn’t too sure whether that was a good thing or not. Like all alleys everywhere this one stank of urine, there was also the sound of small skittering feet that she hoped were rats.

“Damn-it-all,” Faith muttered as she considered whether to try and retrace her steps or keep going.

Quickly realising that one way was as good as another, Faith walked on hoping to find an exit and a main road, while telling herself that she really needed to look where she was going in future. Not having walked more than a few yards, she heard a footstep behind her. Stopping suddenly, she turned to confront whoever was behind her, she didn’t appreciate being followed down dark, stinking alleys in the middle of the night. Bringing her fists up ready to defend herself against any rapist or pervert who got their jollies from scaring the crap out of girls in dark alleys, Faith found herself looking at nothing. No rapist or monster stood behind her caught in the act of sneaking up on her, for a moment she wondered why she’d thought ‘monster’? Monsters didn’t exist, other than human monsters who were just freaks and perverts. Relaxing a little and telling herself that the sound she’d heard was probably a stray dog of something, she turned back the way she’d been heading and screamed. 

There only inches from her face stood a guy wearing a fright mask. What was it with people around here? Her heart quickly stopped trying to climb out of her mouth as her breathing settled down into a more natural rhythm. For a moment she took in the fright mask with its lumpy forehead, pale skin and long sharp looking teeth, Faith had to admit it was a pretty effective mask or maybe it was theatrical make-up.

“Hey!” Faith demanded, “What is it with people ‘round here?” Faith took a step away from the freak, only to have him take a step to close the distance between them. “Like scaring girls’ coz you’ve only got a little dick or something, is that how ya get ya kicks?”

“Run,” ordered the guy in the monster make up.

0=0=0=0


	2. Chapter 2

2.

**A Back Alley in LA.**

“Get outta here!” Faith replied as she pushed by the loser in the monster outfit and continued her walk down the alley.

Not having taken more than a couple of steps, Faith felt a hand on her shoulder. The guy had grabbed her and was trying to spin her around to face him again. Instead he got his wrist grabbed and his arm twisted against the joint. Finally he found himself being thrown at the dumpsters that lined the wall in this part of the alley.

“Get outta here before I kick your ass, man!” Faith warned; one of the other things she’d found out about herself was; not only was she stronger than most women she’d also learnt several types of unarmed combat at some point in her life, weird guys in alleys didn’t really scare her as much as perhaps they should.

What did scare her, at least a little bit was the way the guy got up off the ground and attacked her as if he hadn’t just connected with the dumpster while using his head as an air-bag. The guy snarled as he leaped across the alley at her, she met him with a punch to the throat, a killing blow. The guy should have fallen to the filthy surface of the alley and choked to death, but he didn’t. Yeah he went down, for about two seconds, but then he was back on his feet trying to grab her and bite her on the neck.

Faith’s small, hard fists struck at the man’s body like pistons and she started to lose count of the number of times she knocked him off his feet. But the mugger seemed to soak up the punishment like he was being hit by a kitten or something. Faith had heard about this type of thing. The thug must be on Crystal Meth and she could beat on him all night and he wouldn’t feel a thing until he came down off his high. But what was she to do until then? Thoughts passed rapidly through Faith’s mind one after another. The guy seemed determined to do something bad to her, would the police care if she took one more freak off the streets? All these thoughts went through Faith’s mind in a flash, in reality they hardly registered in her conscious mind. Acting instinctively she lashed out with her feet and hands. This freak was going down and if she had to kill him; well, that was just his bad luck, he shouldn’t attack girls in dark alleys.

Feeling herself on what she thought must be some kind of ‘combat high’, Faith stood over the broken and bleeding body of her would-be rapist. Even though she’d felt bones break under her fists, even though she must have ruptured all the freak’s internal organs, even though he lay on the ground with his left leg pointing the wrong way, the bastard still hadn’t lost consciousness. In fact he didn’t even seem to be breathing heavily, neither was Faith but at least she was breathing a little hard.

“Slayer!” slurred the freak-rapist through bloody lips as he gazed up at Faith in something approaching awe.

“What!?” demanded Faith as she raised her right leg to deliver one final side kick, “Asshole!” she struck, hitting her victim on the side of the head, finally his eyes closed.

Turning on her heel and figuratively dusting off her hands as she headed on down the alley, Faith congratulated herself on making the streets of LA a little safer for women at night.

“What did he call me?” Faith asked herself as she caught sight of the shine of some street lights, “Layer?” Faith frowned, “Layer?” she said the word again; “He thought I was a hooker or something?” Faith nearly turned around to go back and make sure the man was dead, but the sight of a main road stopped her; she wanted a beer and maybe something to eat and if she could find Fearless maybe a screw too, “Layer,” she muttered as she walked on down the sidewalk, “What the fuck’s a ‘Layer’?”

0=0=0=0

**The Oasis Motel, the following morning.**

As it turned out, Faith got lucky after her run in with the freak-rapist; she’d quickly worked out where she was once she’d got back on the main road. Taking a bus, she’d ridden it the couple of blocks to the bar she used near the motel where she lived. Walking into the half deserted bar she saw Fearless sitting on a stool at the bar.

Fearless was a cop, a detective no less, and the closest thing Faith had to a boyfriend. They were in fact, friends with benefits; although Faith craved, love, affection and had a great need to be liked and wanted, she always kept people at arms length for fear of getting hurt. This was all very confusing to Faith and it made her miserable at times because she didn’t know or understand why she was like she was. Having met Fearless outside his motel room, weirdly he lived in a motel…just like her, they’d quickly become friends. Then, very soon afterwards, they’d become friends who occasionally spent the night together.

After a fight, which Faith was the first to admit she did seem to get involved in a lot, or at least more than could be considered normal for a young woman, she found she craved sexual release and Fearless was good…very good at giving her that release. Now as she lay in his bed and stretched like a cat she watched him dress in the light coming in through the still drawn curtains. Searching in the pocket of a jacket, Fearless pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one.

“You smoke?” Faith sat up exposing her breasts as the sheet fell away from her body, “I didn’t think anyone smoked now, ‘specially out here on the West Coast.”

“You want one?” Fearless held out the pack to her.

“Nah,” Faith shook her head, she smoked sometimes but not often. “So tell be why do you still smoke?”

“It’s a story,” Fearless explained his face splitting into a grin.

“What?” Faith laughed; Fearless liked to tell stories; sometimes they were about when he’d been in the army, other times they were just stories that made her laugh or sometimes cry.

“If you want to know why I smoke,” Fearless sat down on the edge of the bed and took hold of Faith’s small hand in his big one, “it’s gonna to be a story.”

“Okay,” Faith smiled and lay back on the pillows but didn’t pull the sheet up to cover her breasts, “tell me why ya smoke.”

“Right,” Fearless’ eyes went unfocused for a moment as he thought back to… “it was during Desert Storm, me and my friend Freaktown were sent out into the desert to check on a crashed F16.” Fearless paused for a moment as he drew on his cigarette and thought back to that hot day long ago, “The F16 had been shot down weeks ago, the pilot had ejected and been picked up. We’d just been sent to check out the crash site and see if there was anything recoverable.”

“So, we found the crash, and got down from the Hummer and were looking around the debris field,” Fearless got up, walked over to the table under the window and crushed out his cigarette in an ash tray. “I’m just walking about checking things out when I saw something shiny in the sand, I bent to pick it up and Freaktown got shot!”

“Jeez!” Faith breathed quietly.

“You see what we didn’t know was that about a mile away was a Republican Guard sniper who’d been waiting for days for someone to check out that crash site.” Fearless shook his head sadly. “What had happened was he’d aimed at my head and fired, now the bullet was in the air for maybe three or four seconds, enough time for me to say ‘oh, shiny object’ and bend down and pick it up.”

“So your friend Freaktown was killed instead of you?” Faith asked slowly, “That’s harsh man.”

“No,” Fearless smiled and shook his head, “see Freaktown was about your height,” Fearless was a good eight inches taller than Faith, “the bullet caught him in the top of the helmet, parted my man’s hair and knocked him off his feet, other than having the crap scared outta him he was fine!”

“No way?” Faith cried, relieved that the story had a happy ending.

“Yes way,” Fearless agreed, “after that I thought ‘what’s so bad about smoking’?”

“Hey, good story man,” Faith swung her legs out of bed and started to search for her clothes. “y’know ya sound like a man with a list.”

“A list?” Fearless went back to getting himself ready for work.

“Yeah y’know,” Faith found her panties and pulled them on, “one of those lists of things ya wanna do before ya die…climb a mountain, screw a Southie things like that.”

“Yeah,” Fearless held up a much folded and refolded piece of paper, but before he could explain further his pager started to buzz, picking it up he read the message, “Sorry Faith I’ve gotta go, work y’know?”

“Yeah all right, I get it,” Faith tried not to feel or sound disappointed, but it would have been nice to have breakfast together, “I’ll clear the place up before I go, okay?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Fearless clipped his gun to his belt and headed for the door.

“See you tonight?” Faith asked a little more hopefully than she’d intended.

“Yeah, baby, maybe…” Fearless called back as he headed out the door leaving Faith alone again.

0=0=0=0

“You look happy,” Fearless’ partner, Joel, called as he saw his buddy walk towards their car.

“Spent the night with Faith,” Fearless announced, “man that girl can do things that can make your toes curl!”

“Bendy is she?” Joel laughed as they walked towards the car together.

“Bendy doesn’t begin to…” suddenly all happiness left Fearless’ face, “…I told her why I smoked.”

“Freaktown?” Joel asked his own smile leaving his face.

“Yeah, Freaktown,” Fearless nodded.

“How did the story end this time?” Joel unlocked the car and opened the driver’s door.

“I told her he lived,” for a moment Fearless was back in the Iraqi desert with his dead friend at his feet, his blood soaking into the sand, “no need to ruin her day with the truth,” Fearless sighed before changing the subject, “so what’ve we got?”

“School drive by,” Joel explained as he got into the car, “one girl dead another in hospital…”

0=0=0=0

**The Oasis Motel about a week later.**

Walking towards the motel clerk’s office, Faith checked that she had the money for next weeks rent in her pocket. Having taken ‘Nick’ up on his offer of work, she was now doing four or five shifts a week down at the Hellfire Club dancing and stripping. It wasn’t what she’d planned to do; she didn’t even really like having to do it. But it did bring in enough cash so she wasn’t haemorrhaging money just to keep a roof over her head. However, she wasn’t getting very much richer either, at best she was standing still, if she wanted more money she’d need to do other stuff and she wasn’t sure she wanted to do that.

The Hellfire Club wasn’t so bad though, most of the other strippers and waitresses were cool, even the girls who dressed up as ‘demons’. It was odd but Faith never saw these girls put on their make-up or anything. They always seemed to arrive at the club already made-up and go home at the end of the evening still in their costumes. A couple of the girls who dressed up had taken an instant dislike to her, Faith didn’t know why; maybe they were just natural bitches. Whatever, Faith sighed as she arrived at the office; there were always some people who couldn’t deal with a hot, new girl.

“Hi, Sam,” Faith called pleasantly to the motel’s clerk who was sitting behind his security glass screen.

“Oh, high Faith,” Sam looked up from the girlie magazine he’d been looking at and smiled guiltily at Faith.

“Hey, what ya reading?” Faith asked with a grin.

“Oh nothing,” Sam tried to hide the magazine under a newspaper and began to change the subject, “you come to pay your rent?”

“Yeah,” Faith laughed, “but ya not seeing one cent until I see that mag.”

“Oh Faith,” Sam slid the magazine to Faith under the glass.

Picking up the magazine, Faith flicked through the pages quickly, a lot of the pictures were way too ‘gynaecological’ for her tastes, but some of the models were pretty enough. Faith had long suspected that she was bi-sexual, by ‘long’ she meant from about a week after she’d woken up when she’d caught herself checking out a nurse’s rack as she tidied up her room.

“Some of them are hot,” Faith admitted as she slid the magazine back to a now thoroughly embarrassed Sam, “but ya really oughta try the real thing.”

“You offering?” Sam asked with just a hint of hope in his voice.

“No,” Faith replied without too much feeling, she didn’t want to slap the guy down too hard.

For the first time since she’d moved in, Faith really looked at Sam. He was okay, she supposed, but by the look in his eyes he seemed terrified she might say ‘yes’.

“Oh, come on Faith,” Sam pleaded; Faith couldn’t be sure whether he was sounding upset of thankful that she’d rejected him. “When am I ever going to get out and meet girls? I’m always here.” 

“Yeah, my heart bleeds,” Faith gave Sam a sympathetic look, “look you want this rent money or not?”

“Yeah sure,” Sam was just reaching for his receipt book when the phone rang, “hold on I gotta get this…”

“Okay,” Faith shrugged and leaned against the counter top and looked around the office.

Like the rest of the Oasis Motel it wasn’t really smart but it wasn’t shabby either, it was some where in that half world between up-market and down and out. Her room was just the same, nothing fancy, comfortable enough and housekeeping did a good enough job of keeping it clean and there were fresh sheets every week and clean towels when she needed them. She hadn’t been looking forward to moving out as her money ran out, but then again she’d not been looking forward to living there for the rest of her life.

“Is that Fearless out there?” Sam asked as he held onto the phone and a car pulled up outside.

“I’ll go look,” Faith offered.

A couple of days ago, Fearless had moved an east European chick and her kid into one of the motel’s rooms; he’d also started to spend quite a lot of time up there with them. It wasn’t as if Faith was jealous exactly, after all Fearless and her didn’t have a girl and boyfriend thing going on or anything. They were just friends with fringe benefits, so why did she feel so let down every time she saw him with her? Stepping out of the office, Faith saw Fearless climb from his car and start to head towards the European woman’s room.

“Hey, Fearless!” Faith called, “Sam’s gotta call for ya, ya wanna take it in ya room or in here?”

“Thanks,” Fearless hesitated for a moment before turning to walk over towards Faith, “I’ll take it in the office.” Walking up to Faith, Fearless smiled, “Hey Faith, I’ve not seen you around so much lately, what-cha-bin doin’?

“I’m working now,” Faith replied as if she didn’t care about seeing Fearless one way or another.

“That’s good,” Fearless nodded as Sam came out from behind his little glass fort and held out the receiver to him, “look I’ll catch up in a minute, I’ve gotta take this.”

Yeah right, Faith thought, want’s to catch up does he? Wants to get hot and heavy with the piece of Euro-trash he’s got stashed away up there more like. Faith rolled her eyes in disgust; men, her mental rant continued, good for nothing, might as well get herself a toy or two from the sex shop down the street or-or screw Sam, see how Fearless liked that… The look on Fearless’ face brought Faith’s mental turmoil to an abrupt halt; he looked worried, like dangerous worried.

“Sam,” Fearless spoke urgently, “you got a gun back there, shotgun, rifle anything?”

“Sure,” Sam backed away from the detective, “I’ve got a shotgun,” Sam held up the weapon, a standard twelve gauge pump.

“Cartridges?” Fearless asked as he snatched the weapon from Sam’s hand.

“Here,” Sam pulled open a drawer and handed Fearless a box of shells, Sam looked scared, very scared, “what’s going on?”

“Does that door lock from the inside?” Fearless pointed to a storage room.

“Yeah,” Sam nodded even as he backed towards the door.

“Right, you go in there and lock the door from the inside,” Fearless turned to look at Faith, “you too Faith…”

“No way man,” Faith shook her head; first she didn’t like the idea of being locked in a small dark room with Sam, second she could feel danger in the air and she had this urgent need to help.

“Don’t be stupid,” Fearless snapped, “now get in there and…”

“Too late,” Faith grinned, Sam had already disappeared into the room and locked the door, “ya stuck with me!”

“Okay,” Fearless moved towards the office door as he slipped shells into the shotgun, “go to your room and lock yourself in, barricade the door and keep your head down.”

“Sure,” Faith agreed, “but what the freaking hell is goin’ on?”

“Trouble, that’s what’s going on,” Fearless explained as they stepped out onto the dark, rain-slick parking lot, “Look,” for a moment Fearless stopped to look into Faith’s eyes, “back-up will be here soon, if you keep your head down you’ll be okay, okay?”

“Okay,” Faith shrugged as Fearless turned away and started running towards where the Euro-chick lived with her little girl; waiting a couple of seconds, Faith trotted silently along after Fearless just as four dark coloured cars pulled into the parking lot.

Running up the stairs behind Fearless to the upper level, Faith glanced down into the parking lot to see ten or twelve white guys climb out of the cars; she didn’t need to see the automatic weapons in their hands to know they were trouble. They sort of just radiated mean-ness. It was at about this moment that Fearless stopped and Faith nearly ran into him.

“What the hell!?” Fearless demanded as he stared down at Faith before his eyes flicked over to where the gangsters were spreading out to cover the motel. “Get outta here!”

“Like where?” Faith shrugged, “If I go down there…” she gestured towards the men with guns and left the possible consequences of her going ‘down there’ unspoken.

“Okay,” Fearless pulled Faith past him and pointed along the walkway that ran in front of the motel rooms, “go…”

Just as Fearless was about to tell Faith to go to the end room, go inside and take cover, the Euro-chick’s daughter came out to stand on the walkway and look fearfully up at Fearless.

“Look after the girl,” Fearless shoved Faith towards the girl before starting to run in the direction from which they’d just come.

Sprinting along the walkway, Faith heard Fearless’ shotgun boom twice only to be answered by a burst of automatic fire from below. Hearing bullets crack above here head, Faith scooped up the kid and carried her back into room not forgetting to slam the door shut behind her. Dropping the kid onto her feet, Faith switched out the lights and carefully peeped outside. Again she heard Fearless’ shotgun go off followed by a burst of automatic fire which in turn was followed by the sound of a window breaking.

Looking down at the terrified kid, Faith tried to work out what the hell was going on and what she’d got herself into. Her eyes searched the room for something she could use as a weapon but she came up with nothing, only then did she see the police issue bullet proof vest lying on the table.

“Ok!” Faith squatted down in front of the girl; she was about ten with shoulder length dark blonde hair and blue, tearful eyes, immediately Faith felt the urge to protect her, “I’m Faith, I’m a friend of Fearless, who are you Honey?”

“Lara,” sniffed the girl.

“Where’s ya mom?” Faith asked as she desperately tried to work out what to do; outside she could hear the booms of Fearless’ shotgun being answered by more automatic fire, surely the cops would be here soon…wouldn’t they?

“She went out to bye ice cream,” replied Lara.

“Ice cream?” Faith repeated as she thought that buying icecream at this time of night was a little odd. “Whatever,” Faith reached for the bullet proof vest and started to help Lara put it on, “you put this on, Lara…hey those guys out there…” Faith held the girl as more firing split the night, it seemed to be getting closer, “…are they after ya mom?”

“No,” Lara shook her head as she struggled into the too big body armour, “they after me.”

“No shit?” Faith gasped, what could this little girl have done to have a load of gangsters with guns come after her? “Okay, Lara,” Faith picked the kid up, “you hold on tight and Auntie Faithie will get ya outta here.”

“Auntie Faithie?” Lara gave Faith a quizzical look as she put her arms around Faith’s neck.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Faith shrugged, “maybe not Auntie…would Big Sis Faith do?”

“Sure,” Lara agreed as she held on tightly to Faith.

Outside the gunfire had stopped and Faith could hear at least two sets of footsteps moving stealthily towards the room. Glancing at the door to check she’d locked it, Faith started to move towards the back of the room and the bathroom. She’d not gone far when the door burst open and a big guy in a black leather jacket clutching a small machine-gun in his beefy hands burst into the room. Faith dived for the floor covering Lara with her body as the guy sprayed the room with a long burst of fire.

The firing stopped abruptly and the silence beat loudly on Faith’s ears as she disentangled herself from the girl’s embrace. Taking her chance, Faith slipped from Lara’s grasp and jumped to her feet to confront the gangster. The man was standing half in and half out of the room blocking the view of his buddy who was still outside on the walkway. Gangster number one was busy trying to reload his weapon as gangster number two began to push his way into the room.

Jumping across the room, Faith smashed her fist into gangster number one’s face. He stumbled backwards and flipped over the safety rail and fell into the parking lot below. Gangster number two was now on the ground but he’d kept his wits about him and fired. A long muzzled flash reached for Faith as the gangster’s bullets sort her out. But Faith was nowhere to be found, she’d ducked back into the room and dropped to the floor. Lying there with bullets ripping through the thin walls and ceiling above her head, Faith saw gangster one’s machine-gun lying on the floor next to her hand.

0=0=0=0


	3. Chapter 3

3.

Reaching for the weapon, Faith picked it up before crawling back across the floor towards the bathroom pausing once to fire a burst through the wall; she didn’t think she’d hit anything but it seemed to keep gangster two from following her into the room. Leopard crawling swiftly across the room, Faith almost panicked when she couldn’t find Lara. Throwing herself into the bathroom she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the girl hiding in the bath.

“Hold on kid,” Faith called breathlessly as she looked for an escape route.

The only way out appeared to be the window. Knowing that she only had seconds to get the kid to safety, Faith pushed open the window and looked out. It looked too far to jump, but there was a drain pipe that appeared sturdy enough to carry her and Lara’s weight.

“Lara, look at me,” Faith spoke rapidly, “look, I’m going to climb out the window then I want ya to climb out and get on my back, can ya do that?”

Lara nodded bravely.

“Cool,” Faith tried a reassuring smile before climbing out the window and taking hold of the drainpipe, “okay, Lara come on out.”

Hesitantly the girl climbed out the bathroom window and then reached for Faith’s hand. Taking hold of Lara’s arm, Faith easily swung her up onto her back where she held on like a baby monkey to its mother’s back. Swiftly climbing the drainpipe towards the roof, Faith wondered again at her strength; she knew that she was stronger than most women, but Lara felt like no weight at all, allowing her to climb effortlessly up the drain.

“Hold on tight, Honey,” Faith whispered as she came to the top of the drainpipe and climbed onto the roof; damn-it, thought Faith, where to now?

Running along the flat roof towards the other end of the building, Faith had some vague idea about climbing down and making her way off into the dark and turning herself and the kid over to the first cops she could find. However, this plan lasted about five paces as a head appeared over the far edge of the roof, the head was rapidly followed by a hand and an arm, the hand was clutching a machine-gun.

“CRAP!” Faith skidded to a halt and started to back pedal as bullets snapped angrily about her ears. It was only as Lara’s high pitched scream cut its way like a knife through her consciousness that Faith remembered she had a gun too. Taking the weapon that hung from a strap around her neck, she fired. The wild spray of bullets caught the gangster squarely in the face and Faith watched wide eyed as his head exploded. Unfortunately her feelings of triumph were brought up short as the gun stopped firing.

What now? Was Faith’s next thought as she ran back towards the drainpipe. Once again the gangsters didn’t give her any time to think as bullets whipped through the roof from the room underneath. Dodging the bullets while trying to guess where the next burst would come from, Faith found she was rapidly running out of roof and options. Standing on the edge of the roof, Faith saw another head appear at the far end of the building, more bullets smashed through the roof at her feet and it looked like the only way out of this mess was for her to jump. Looking at the sidewalk below, Faith gauged the distance, it looked jumpable if she didn’t mind breaking at least one leg. But a broken leg was better than being dead, right? Plus the kid would live, okay, Faith told herself, the only way is down.

“Jump down Honey,” Faith told Lara as calmly as she could, she knelt down and took the girl in her arms, “look we’re gonna jump down into the street, okay, now hold on to big Sis tight!”

Clinging on to the girl as Lara wrapped her legs around Faith’s waist and her arms around her neck, Faith stood up and stepped off the roof. Bending her knees, Faith soaked up the impact of landing and stood for a moment amazed at not lying on the ground in agony because she’d broken a leg. After a moment like this she got her head back into the game and set Lara down on her feet and took hold of the child’s hand.

“Come on lets run!” Faith started to pull the child along the sidewalk; the sound of firing was still coming from the motel and she thought it wise to get as far away from the place as she could.

The sound of a car’s engine came to Faith’s ears as she and Lara trotted down the street, turning her head she saw a silver saloon drive up and stop next to her.

“Crap!” Faith cursed quietly, as she picked Lara up again and prepared to sprint as far and as fast as she could; a man with short fair hair climbed out of the car and came towards her gun in hand.

“Get into the car!” the man ordered urgently.

“JOEL!” Lara cried and Faith realised it was Fearless’ partner coming towards her not another gangster.

Rushing towards the car Faith put Lara in the back seat and told her to get down on the floor before shutting the door.

“You better take cover too,” Joel called to Faith as he started to move quickly towards the motel.

“No way!” Faith called as she trotted behind Joel, “Fearless is still in there.”

“Okay,” Joel had obviously decided he’d not got the time to argue with Faith, “It’s Faith right?” Faith nodded in the affirmative, “Stay behind me and don’t get in the way, now, how many of them are there?”

“At least ten,” Faith replied shortly, “but we musta got maybe half of ‘em by now.”

It appeared that Faith’s estimate of gangster casualties was actually an underestimate because when they drew level with the parking lot it was deserted and ominously quiet.

“Where was Fearless?” Joel asked as they took cover behind a car.

“Last I saw, he was up there,” Faith pointed to the walkway on the upper level; there were a couple of bodies along with other signs of violence like smashed in doors and broken windows. “I took out a couple on my own,” Faith pointed out, “I won’t get into trouble for that, will I?”

“Under the circumstances, no,” Joel replied as he turned and gave Faith a quick grin, “Look I’m going to find Fearless, you stay here.”

“W-what!?” before Faith had a chance to say anything else, Joel was up and running across the parking lot towards the motel.

Watching him run, Faith’s eye was drawn to movement to her right. Her sharp eyes easily picked out the shape of a man coming out from behind a car weapon in hand. Getting up from her hiding place, Faith started to move rapidly, closing the distance between herself and the gangster. The hitman raised his short rifle-like weapon and took aim at Joel’s back. Acting solely on instinct, Faith sprinted towards the man on silent feet; body checking him she knocked him to the ground. The weapon flew from the gangster’s hands as he fell to the ground with Faith on top of him. The rifle clattered across the tarmac as Faith found her feet and grabbed the gangster by the collar of his jacket. Surprising herself and the hitman with her strength, she hauled him to his feet so she could knock him down again with a well aimed blow to the head.

“OWWW!” Faith wailed as her fist came in contact with the gangster’s hard skull.

However, of the two of them the hitman was in worse condition after Faith had hit him; she must have rattled his brain about inside his head because he went limp as his eyes closed and blood dripped from his nose. “God-damn-it!” Faith let go of the gangster and tried to shake some feeling back into her hand, “That hurt!”

The sound of a single gunshot made Faith forget all about her throbbing hand, she seemed to be able to judge exactly were the shot had come from and she looked up at the rooms on the upper level. She could see Joel working his way along the line of doors, checking each one as he passed it. A door one or two doors down from Joel opened to reveal Fearless as he led the Euro-chick out into the night air. 

In that second Faith knew it was all over. The gangsters had been defeated, the kid and her mom were safe and her ‘benefits’ with Fearless were over; he’d not want her around anymore. Any fool could see that there was something between Lara’s mom and Fearless, he’d not want his life complicated by a stripper hanging around. Okay maybe they could still be buddies, share a cup of coffee or a beer every now and then but anything else, well that was over. Perhaps, Faith thought as she stepped aside to let a police patrol car come to a halt next to her, it would be best if she left the Oasis and move on, maybe now she was earning good money dancing she could get a small place of her own.

0=0=0=0

**Later.**

The motel was alive with cops and paramedics as the wreckage and bodies from the gun battle were cleared up. Patiently letting a medic examine her hand, Faith watched as Fearless walked over to where she was sitting in the back of the ambulance.

“Can I talk to her?” Fearless asked the paramedic.

“Yeah,” the medic climbed down from the ambulance before turning to face Faith, “You were lucky this time, only bruises and a few minor cuts. But in future don’t punch hitmen in the head; you’re lucky you didn’t break every bone in your hand.”

“I’ll remember that,” Faith nodded to the medic.

“You okay, Faith?” Fearless asked as he climbed into the ambulance and sat down tiredly.

“Yeah I’m fine,” Faith admitted; she did in fact feel fine, also a little hungry and horny both of which she’d have to deal with herself because it looked like Fearless wasn’t going to be available, “What’s goin’ on Fearless?” she gestured to the aftermath of battle, “I mean what’s with World War Three an’all?”

“Oh that?” something of the old Fearless came back and had replaced the drained Fearless for a moment. “Lara witnessed one of these Russian freaks murder someone in her mom’s restaurant, she was the only one willing to say she’d seen anything.”

Faith looked over to where Lara and her mom sat surrounded by medics and police on the stairs leading up to the motel’s top floor.

“Jeez,” Faith breathed quietly, “brave kid.”

“Yeah, we tried to fool the Russians into thinking they were both dead which was why they were here,” Fearless shrugged, “didn’t work coz the Russians found out that Lara wasn’t dead, so they came after her here.”

“Good plan,” Faith shrugged, she didn’t know what else to say.

“Thanks Faith,” Fearless said as he looked at his hands, “you were a big help looking out for Lara there.” Fearless paused for a second or two, “But next time…”

“There’s gonna be a next time?” Faith asked incredulously.

“No,” Fearless chuckled before adding, “least I hope not. Look next time,” he was serious again, “do like I tell you and stay in your room, I’ve lost enough friends for one life time.”

“What ya mean?” Faith wanted to know.

“This is the anniversary of me getting my man ‘Freaktown’ killed,” Fearless explained.

“Oh,” Faith replied quietly as realisation dawned, “Hey, Freaktown that was…that sniper’s bullet didn’t just part his hair did it?”

“No,” Fearless shook his head and wouldn’t look at Faith directly, “I told him I’d get him through it all and I let him down, now he’s dead.”

“Asshole,” Faith said after a couple of moments thought.

“You what!?” Fearless was looking at her in shock.

“You,” Faith jabbed Fearless’ shoulder with a finger, “you’re an asshole if ya think ya let anyone down or got anyone killed,” Fearless started to say something but Faith didn’t give him a chance, “did ya run away?” Fearless shook his head, “Did ya hide behind him so you couldn’t be hit? Did ya do everything ya could to look out for this guy?”

“Yeah but…” once again Fearless found he Faith wouldn’t let him speak.

“Okay then, news flash!” Faith jabbed Fearless with an iron hard finger making him wince, “there’s a war on, guys die in wars. I know you Fearless; I bet you did everything you could to help out but sounds like Freaktown’s time was up.” Faith spoke her next words softly, “ya not god, y’know?”

“But…” Fearless tried to speak again.

“But nothin’,” Faith snorted a laugh, “now get outta here an’ go see ya new lady, she needs ya more than I do…now get.”

Patting Faith on the shoulder, Fearless climbed down from the ambulance as Faith watched him go. The truth was she did need him, just a little, for a night maybe and then… And then it would be back to the old Faith who didn’t need anyone however much she might tell herself different. People tied you down, get a regular guy and the next thing you knew he wanted you to move in or marry you or some such crap. No, that wasn’t for Faith Lehane not now; perhaps later when she knew more about herself.

Standing up with a groan, Faith climbed down from the ambulance and started to make her way slowly and painfully towards her room. Realising that she probably looked as if she’d had the crap beaten out of her, Faith resolved to phone the Hellfire Club and tell them she wouldn’t be in for a couple of days. That was the problem with stripping; it made it very hard to hide any bruises. Climbing up the stairs to her room, Faith let herself in and closed the door behind her. Pulling off her clothes she left them in a trail behind her as she headed for the shower. A nice hot shower while she got rid of the annoying hot feeling between her legs, something to eat and a night’s sleep and she’d be fine.

0=0=0=0

The following morning Faith slept late. Getting up she dressed in clean clothes and tidied up her clothes from the day before and considered going to the laundromat. Dismissing the idea for another day, she phoned the Hellfire Club and told them she’d not be coming in for a day or two. Having looked at herself in the mirror earlier, Faith’d been surprised to find that all but the biggest of her bruises had vanished over night. However, that still left a big one on her ribs, she’d no idea how she’d got that, and her hand looked like she’d been beating on it with a hammer.

Leaving her room, Faith saw there were still a few cops hanging about; she couldn’t help wondering where they’d been last night when they’d been needed. Running down the steps to the parking lot, Faith felt the roll of dollar bills in the pocket of her jacket, she hadn’t paid Sam for next months rent. Hell, she shrugged, he could wait until later for the money. As she walked out onto the street, she smiled and wondered if Sam had come out of the store room yet.

0=0=0=0

After eating a large breakfast in the diner she usually used, Faith paused to read a local newspaper. She was in no rush today, she wasn’t working tonight so she had nothing to do and all day to do it in. Turning to the jobs pages, she quickly scanned the ads. Nothing caught her eye; you either needed to have a college degree or they didn’t pay anywhere near what she earnt stripping. One add did catch her eye though, just as she was about to close the page. It was an advert for a club not too far away for ‘hostesses’. Pulling a face at the idea of being a hostess, that usually meant code for ‘hooker’. But the wages offered didn’t look too bad and it might be useful to check it out, perhaps she could cut back on the stripping a little if it worked out.

0=0=0=0

The Epilogue.

Arriving outside the club early in the afternoon, Faith looked up at the sign above the door; Caritas, it read.

“What the hell is ‘Carry-tass’,” Faith asked herself but got no answer.

Stepping through the door, Faith found herself facing a big black guy, obviously the doorman.

“We’re closed,” the doorman rumbled.

“I’ve come about the hostess job?” Faith pointed out, “The ad said I should ask for someone called Lorne?”

“Oh yeah,” the doorman smiled pleasantly, “the Boss, he’s down stairs in the club, you go on in.”

“Thanks,” Faith smiled back at the guy and headed on into the club.

Taking the long flight of stairs that led down to the basement where the club was situated, Faith noted the almost complete lack of ‘sleaze’. From her experience of these kinds of places they all gave off a smell of sin and vice and despair and sometimes bad drains. This Caritas place didn’t give off anything like that, but it did make the skin between her shoulder blades itch so much that she stopped on the stairs to make sure she wasn’t being followed.

Satisfied there wasn’t anyone about to attack her, Faith dismissed the feeling and carried on down the steps and into the club proper. Stopping to look around, she saw fairly standard tables and chairs, a small stage with a microphone and what looked like a karaoke machine set up on the stage. Faith smiled, so not a strip joint, unless the girls were supposed to sing while they took their clothes off, in which case she might as well leave now. Turning to her left a little she saw a well stocked bar and a tall, handsome looking barman.

“Lorne?” Faith smiled and wished she’d worn a more revealing top.

“Come about the hostess job?” the barman wanted to know, Faith nodded, “I’ll find him for you.”

The barman disappeared behind a curtain to one side of the bar leaving Faith to look around. The bar (not a club she’d decided) was clean, smelt okay and didn’t look the sort of place she’d have to take her clothes off to get a decent tip. Hearing a footfall behind her Faith turned to find the bar’s owner standing not three feet away. The guy was slim and a little over average height. He wore a dark red suit, silk shirt and a tie that made her eyes water just a little. But what really caught Faith’s eyes was the guy’s green skin, red eyes and the little red horns growing from his forehead.

“What is wrong with people in this freaking town?” Faith asked angrily, realising she’d walked into yet another ‘monster’ themed bar.

Turning on her heel Faith stormed out of the bar, up the steps and out onto the street again. After walking quickly along the side walk for fifty yards or so, she slowed to a halt and turned back to look at the door to the bar. For a moment she considered going back and saying ‘sorry’. They probably wouldn’t employ her now, but going back and apologising would be the right thing to do. Never-the-less, she dismissed this thought as a bad idea and continued on her way; just what was she supposed do with her life?

Faith neither wanted to, or could go on stripping for the rest of her life; she really didn’t like doing it and somewhere at the back of her mind was the knowledge that eventually she’d start screwing guys for money. That was a place she didn’t want to go, so she needed to find a way out of her life, maybe leave LA completely, go somewhere else where she could…could what? All she seemed to be good at was taking her clothes off for a bunch of losers…and fighting. Nodding to herself, Faith had to admit that it had felt pretty good kicking those gangster’s asses. In those few minutes she’d felt more alive than she had since she’d woken up. Maybe she could combine her only two skills into…

It was then that she found herself outside a recruiting office for the US Army; she stopped and looked at the display in the window. ‘Be the best you can be,’ read the poster, ‘join the US Army’. There were pictures of square jawed guys in camouflaged uniforms clutching rifles, or sitting on top of tanks. But what made her look harder were the pictures of girls with guns dressed just like the guys doing more or less what the guys were doing.

“Cool,” Faith breathed as she drifted closer to the window, this could be just what she was looking for and she wouldn’t have to take her clothes off for anyone if she didn’t want to.

Before she knew what she was doing, Faith had opened the door and had gone inside. Walking up to the guy sitting behind a desk, Faith smiled as she read the rank on his collar (Fearless had been a Staff Sergeant and the man on the desk wore the exact, same insignia).

“Mornin’, Staff Sergeant,” Faith felt her heart begin to pound as the enormity of what she was about to do suddenly hit her, “I wanna join the army.”

“You do, do you, Ms…?” the soldier looked up at Faith and gestured for her to take a seat.

“Lehane,” Faith smiled as she sat down, “Faith Lehane.”

The End.


End file.
